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Nathan & Elizabeth: An Epic Love

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Chapter One

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Unexpected Visit

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More than a little concerned, in the Café kitchen, Minnie glanced up periodically from her many post-lunch tasks to check on her skittish customer.

Elizabeth had been sitting at the table by the front window for hours on end now, singularly focused on one thing.

Though she had a sheaf of papers in front of her, her eyes were elsewhere, constantly drifting to the outside, more specifically to the empty Royal Canadian Mounted Police Office that was just across the street.

Her face held a look of contemplation so deep she seemed unaware that the lunch crowd had long since come and gone, even though it had been the typical, busy Friday.

Unfortunately for the teacher, there had been no sight of the one person she was determined to run into, the town's handsome Constable, who happened to be a known regular for Friday lunch at the Café.

Vastly disappointed, Elizabeth had gone through the motions, placing an order for the daily special, though her now cold meatloaf remained untouched.

"Elizabeth, allow me to warm this…" began Minnie, but her absent-minded customer was far, far away.

So, the Café owner simply removed her guest's lunch plate without being noticed and took the cold meal back to the kitchen. There, she boxed it up to be taken home and reheated there, perhaps for dinner.

Concerned for her friend, who had seemed increasingly distracted over the last few weeks, Minnie decided to slip in a second piece for Little Jack, along with some fresh mashed potatoes and a couple of yeast rolls, which she added in for both.

Suddenly glimpsing a flash of red in the street, Elizabeth was instantly startled! Immediately standing up, she paused only long enough to toss enough money on the table to cover her uneaten food and a tip, then hurriedly rushed out.

Minnie immediately rushed to the front door, carrying the bag containing her friend's take-home meals while calling after her.

"Elizabeth! Don't forget your food!"

But the beautiful teacher was already crossing Main Street, where she paused briefly to pet Newton as if that were necessary to compose herself. She then ran up the steps to the boardwalk, hesitating for mere seconds before she straightened to her full height and confoundingly knocked on the door…

Moments before, Nathan, bone-tired, placed his worn Stetson on the rack by his door, then ran his hands through his hair in a rather futile attempt to straighten it.

Thankfully, at least he was able to shake out most of the dust!

After a long day in the saddle, he stretched and headed to pour himself a cup of coffee from his thermos, hoping it would wake him enough to finish the three lengthy reports that had to be completed and mailed to headquarters before he could shut his office for the day.

"At least Bill's in Buxton, thank goodness. Maybe without his constant interruptions, I can actually get these reports done before ten o'clock tonight!"

But as the Constable poured his cup of black coffee, he froze, catching a whiff of the one scent that tore at his very heart, that luscious lilac and vanilla blend used only by one person in Hope Valley.

Finally, glancing up, he saw that same 'one person' standing in his open doorway, looking as beautiful as she always did to him.

"Elizabeth!" addressed a surprised Nathan.

He cleared his throat before making an emotionless comment of fact in a husky, low voice.

"It's been a while."

"Na…Nathan!" she sputtered out less than graciously, especially since it was his office she was now standing in.

"What can I do for you?"

A million ideas catapulted through her mind, setting her heart to race even faster than her nerves had already established as precedent.

She swallowed hard.

The question, 'Why is my mouth so dry?' ran through her mind.

"Do you…do you have a moment?" she asked aloud.

"For you? Of course. Have a seat. Would you like a cup of coffee? It's not steaming hot, but passable."

"Yes, please," she nodded as she took the seat across from his desk. "That would be wonderful!"

He set down his own cup of coffee and walked back across the room to pour her a cup, but with an added dash of cream and a teaspoonful of sugar, just like she liked it.

She watched in awe, realizing that in all her time with Lucas, he had never once gotten her coffee right. He had told her it was because he was a tea drinker himself and didn't care for the murky brew. Yet Nathan remembered from two, or was it three years ago now?

She suddenly felt sick. The thought of all that wasted time alone made her feel ashamed, and she wanted more than anything to turn and run away.

But she had already done that in the worst possible way, and it clearly hadn't worked.

In fact, it had only made things inordinately worse.

'No, no more running,' she lectured herself silently. 'That's not an option!'

"Thank you, Nathan," she voiced aloud, bracing herself inside for what was coming next.

Her words, though barely above a whisper, were so soft-spoken that they shook him, making her appear ever so fragile.

The word 'broken' came to his mind.

He somehow fumbled his "You're welcome," then instantly recovered by nodding and taking his seat behind his desk, creating what he felt was much-needed space between them.

"How may I help you, Elizabeth?" he asked in a most business-like tone.

'Yes, I will keep whatever this is strictly professional,' he determined inwardly, as he simply could not take being trampled on all over again.

"I was wondering…I was just wondering…how you're doing? I mean, I suppose...we've both been busy…uh…since we haven't seen each other for...several weeks now," she answered.

He nodded as it was now his turn to swallow, thereby stealing a moment to brace himself.

'This is obviously not about anything professional! But that's all I can currently handle. Now, get it back on track, Grant!' he ordered himself silently in a rather desperate attempt to regain his composure.

"Yes, I've been quite busy here and in Benson Hills as well as Rock Creek. Quite a few changes are coming that I'm preparing for as best I can."

She nodded but knew she had no right to ask him about what those changes were, though every ounce of her desperately needed and wanted to know.

She took a sip of her hot-enough coffee to buy some time and collect her thoughts.

'Why do my thoughts always scatter so when I'm around this man?' she asked herself.

"Elizabeth, I don't mean to be rude, but I have very little time this afternoon and several lengthy reports that have to be done. Was there something you needed?"

Somehow, his words completely escaped her.

"Hmm?" she asked, having lost her entire train of thought, as well as her purpose in coming.

"Was there something you needed?"

"Oh, yes, Nathan! I...I needed…rather, I suppose I wanted..."

She looked down at a complete loss for words, having thoroughly been found out.

Though kind and even personable enough, Nathan Grant was rather distant, having no intention of allowing her to randomly play her games today.

Finding the one-knot hole in the floor plank, she focused there to regain her courage.

"I wanted…I needed…I mean…I need and want...yes, that's it! I need and want things to be better…between us!"

For the life of her, she couldn't raise her eyes from that floorboard because that would mean she had to look into those oceans of blue, and that, she couldn't do. Not now! Not with so much left unsaid between them.

There, she had at least gotten the initial words out that she had meant to say, albeit breathlessly and a bit scattered.

But he said nothing. Instead, solemn-faced, his eyes bore into her, not knowing what he should be thinking, much less saying. They had been through so much together, most of it excruciating. And something had to change.

At that moment, sensing his master might need him to run interference, a deeply snoring Scout woke up from his spot in his favorite jail cell, on his favorite bed, and ran straight to Elizabeth, wagging his tail in a manner that proved at least HE was thrilled to see her.

Truth be known, she was as glad to see him, thankful for the interruption and diversion of making over the pooch. When all she truly wanted to do was pamper and smother this man who was sitting in front of her with copious amounts of affection. This man to whom she now knew beyond any doubt was her greatest love, her lifetime love.

But after the grand mess she had made of things, it appeared she might have to settle for loving his adorable dog, at least for now.

"Elizabeth, if you'll forgive me, I'm no longer sure I know how to do that, how to make that happen. The making things better part, I mean, at least not where we're concerned."

The fact he used all four syllables of her name somehow sliced through her heart, even though he hadn't meant them that way at all.

'Where were the days when "Lizbeth" fell off his tongue?' she thought, though she couldn't blame him in the slightest, not after the pain and rejection she had put him through.

Those two beautiful syllables had always lifted her to some higher place, but, oddly, only when this man had said them.

Yet why in the world would he want to use a term of endearment of any kind with her? Of course, he was confused. He had every right to be.

He even had a right to be angry, yet he wasn't showing that at all, even if he was feeling it deep inside.

She had done that to him. More confused herself than she had ever been in her life, she had caused this man sitting before her irreparable pain. Yet he had carried on with a smile on his handsome face, still fathering his child, whom she knew she had also deeply hurt, while still making sure that she, Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton, and her son, along with everyone else in Hope Valley, was safe.

However, besides being broken, she was no longer at all sure about his heart. Could he possibly still love her? Or, at this point, even like her?

Did any hope remain between them, or was it all lost?

Suddenly, she realized she had caused that quandary, too, by rejecting his love without any real explanation or discussion whatsoever, thereby forcing him to lock his heart away and guard what was left of it securely.

As though that hadn't been hurtful enough, she had taken his broken heart and then slashed the remains of it into a million pieces in this very room, telling him she had only been looking for Jack in him. She now realized with full import that vicious slashing had also been done intentionally by none other than her to protect herself from great love, his love.

To make matters worse, she had run away from him confessing his love for her, straight into the arms of Lucas, flaunting their new comfortable, secure, and safe relationship in Nathan's face every chance she got, like it had been her lifeblood, when, in fact, that had never remotely been the case.

Most notably, she had had no consideration whatsoever for this poor man's feelings but instead had been concerned only for her own pseudo-happiness, expecting him to still come to her aid, and even Lucas's aid, whenever they needed or wished.

The awful truth was she had abused and battered him.

Inwardly, she moaned as her torrent of words tumbled out.

"Your confusion? That's my fault. Please know that, Nathan. I realize that now. It wasn't you. It was never you. All of it's my fault and only my fault! And I'm so deeply sorry!"

Instead of relief for the admission, something akin to pain flashed across his face. Pain he was desperately trying to hide, as it was his turn to look down.

"I don't think fault enters into this, Elizabeth," he answered calmly. "It's just that choices were made that have made me wary, unsure how, or even if we can ever fix any of this between us."

"That's fair, Nathan. That's more than fair. Even kind and most generous on your part."

He looked back up, straight into her beautiful blue eyes, and thought it would be his undoing, but he was trying so diligently to understand and move forward out of this awful limbo.

"What DO we do, Elizabeth?" asked Nathan solemnly.

And then he added, almost in a whisper, as though the thought of another devastating unknown with her was simply too much to bear.

"I agree we can't go on like this," he added, resigned.

She heard the finality and frustration in his voice. This was as equally intolerable for him as it had been for her, if not more so. And she knew it.

"Nathan, I just realized that here I am asking you to help me fix this mess I've gotten us into. But it's not your place to fix any of this, not now or ever! I came here assuming it was, or at least partially, but once again, I was so very wrong. This is on me to fix."

At last, she looked up and straight into his beautiful cerulean eyes, and though still a jumble of nerves, suddenly, the old Elizabeth, with grit and perseverance, began to seep back into her body.

A slight smile enveloped her face at the same time that a plan was being firmly planted in her mind.

However, voicing the plan out into the universe was an entirely different matter.

"Nathan…I was wondering! Are you…busy…say…this coming Sunday…this coming Sunday afternoon? Say…around…around this time? Or maybe a little bit before...or even after? No, let's see…that's much too vague. I'm sorry. Let's say four o'clock…yes, that's it! Four o'clock is perfect...in the afternoon. Let's say…next week, which technically...is...is not this coming Sunday, but the Sunday...after...this Sunday?"

They were simple words, but the teacher, the master of both written and spoken words, was stumbling over them like the clumsiest of dancers on a crowded dance floor.

"Do you need me not to be busy," he asked pointedly, with just a hint of that crooked smile, leaning back into his chair.

'Is he enjoying this?' she thought, full of embarrassment and something akin to shame.

As a touch more of the old Elizabeth came back, she gathered the courage to ask him, though completely unable to keep an accusing tone out of her voice.

"Nathan Grant, are you enjoying this?" she asked, simply needing to know, but not in her usual accusatory tone, though perhaps still with a bit of chiding.

"I'm not laughing at you, Elizabeth. But I'm not, NOT enjoying this, either," he assured her calmly in a low, rather husky tone, followed by a flash of white framed by that full-blown, lopsided grin of his.

The one that made her weak in both knees placed a thousand butterflies in her stomach and made her feel dizzy like a spinning top all at once.

The one that always took her breath away.

'Focus, Elizabeth! You have to focus,' she commanded herself. 'He has every right, and face it, how many men would even be open to the humorous aspects of this in his position?'

Finally, though, seeing the humor herself, she forgot her nerves, as her lips also began to curl in a slight smile, first tenuously, then resolutely.

'If he can flirt, I can too,' she insisted inwardly. 'Because if he's truly flirting, there might just a be a bit of hope left for us.'

"Yes, Nathan," and suddenly, her words flowed. "I need you not to be busy because you and I are going to meet at 4 o'clock sharp on the Sunday after this coming Sunday, at my house. Oh, and be prepared to be out till midnight!" she ordered emphatically as she imperiously rose from her chair, reaching to pet Scout goodbye.

"Not this Sunday, but the Sunday after at 4 o'clock sharp," he confirmed in an outright tone of amusement.

Elizabeth sighed. At least now they were going to show up at the same time!

"Perfect!"

"But wait! Did you say midnight? Out where?" he asked cluelessly while standing for her departure.

"That's for you to figure out, Constable! Must I do everything? Well, I've taken enough of your time. But I am really looking forward to next Sunday, and don't be a minute late!" the punctual school teacher admonished in advance.

Just like that, Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton swooped out of the Constable's office in all her Thatcher glory as quickly as she had swooped in, though in a much more confident, back-in-charge, almost regal manner.

Or so she had feigned.

'Thank goodness, we Thatcher gals are pros at feigning a take-charge confidence!' she thought as she shut the door behind her to Nathan's office, then fell back against it with a soft thud and closed her eyes, releasing an immense sigh of pure relief.

"Well, it's taken all day, but the mission is finally accomplished!" she pronounced aloud, placing her hand over her heart as a sly smile crept onto her now radiant and relieved face.

Little did she know Minnie was watching from across the street, covering a much broader smile with her hand; now more certain than ever, she knew exactly what was going on with her friend...

Inside, confused more than ever, Nathan's brow furrowed as his mouth gaped open while trying to figure out the real meaning of this unexpected visit.

"What just happened, Scout? Was I just asked out on a date, or were you?"

Scout barked in affirmation.

"Why is everything so convoluted between that beautiful lady and me? My luck, it's the 'Let's be friends' song and dance, Buddy! Not sure I can take that after all the two of us have been through together!"

By some sixth sense, Scout seemed to understand his Master's fear and reticence. But to reassure the Constable, he suddenly shook himself, emphatically saying no. Then, he placed his paws on Nathan's legs in support, flailing his tail in an unmistakable attempt to keep his Master positive.

"So, you don't think it's going to be another song and dance routine? Okay! Then we'll tentatively go with the date option!"

All Nathan could do was pet his failed Mountie dog and chuckle.

"Come, Boy! You and I have a ton of work to do!"

Scout barked again as if to proudly brag, 'Just don't forget, I'm the one she petted, and that means she loves me best!'

Which brought another hearty chuckle from Nathan and a warm nuzzle from Scout.

Yes, it had taken a while, but Mountie regulations aside, these two had finally bonded.

"What do you say, Scout? Maybe we should both show up! Just in case I need a wingman…"